Believe in Coldplay

A queue! It was the first time where people actually interacted with me, the first time I was not queuing completely alone for a festival (the first time for a concert was with Stephie for Coldplay <3) with a person whom I met at the local artist's gig and his friend... It was so much more fun and pleasant despite all of my pain: sharing snacks, sharing jokes, sharing excitement, sharing moments, that was in fact precious, just a big pity that my acquaintance and his friend had a section B tickets and we had to party our ways with Flo experience. It was the very first time where a stranger in a queue after asking me about where I am from tried to correct themselves with recalling non-Ukrainian word and perfectly pronouncing some Ukrainian words they asked me to be taught of! Even their friend tried to repeat them with saying it's fun to learn something new every day.

It was also the very first time when I felt so incredibly noticed, all thanks to my favourite concert photographer EVER, Mariza. For those who don't know, Mariza is the photographer I first met at this festival where London Grammar were headliners and since then I followed her wonderful photography account on socials and after that I kept on seeing her on almost every concert I've been to here! I started greeting her the second time I saw her, we had a tiny talk, and she started recognising me every concert and greeting me and asking about me :') She's such a lovely and hardworking person, I literally witnessed her working through everything and managing to be the main photographer of the festival with Flo (it was their second performance in Greece), and I was so incredibly happy for her! So, back to this year's Ejekt with Flo: I was standing in the shadow near the trees once we all tried to arrange ourselves by numbers, I appeared to be really deep in the crowd and at some point I saw several photographers appearing near the queue's barrier and one of them was Mariza! I tried to call her and waved at her, she was so confused about where these noises were coming from, it took her quite a minute to see me xD I smiled at her and waved again and she started gesturing towards me "come here, come here!!!", I showed her that these are too many people and I'm not sure it was allowed, and she made a "it doesn't matter, come to me" gesture, so I tried to get to her and the barrier and she immediately opened arms for a hug. I hugged her back and congratulated on her latest personal happy event she posted stories about! We shortly checked on each other and she immediately took camera again and started taking photos of me saying that I looked very beautifully! I wasn't expecting her taking photos of me tbh as I was already kind of turning back to the queue after our tiny chat, but even more so I didn't expect her next move xD She asked me if I wouldn't mind being interviewed a bit, I hesitated for a second, she added something like "a true Florence fan should be interviewed!" and I agreed to be interviewed. That second the interviewer with a rose appeared and the cameraguy. My mind was going really blank almost the whole interview time, as it was another first timer for me to be interviewed as an adult, I was totally unprepared for it and my anxiety gave itself away. I did speak Greek to the interviewer and got compliments on that but I felt so fumbled I asked to speak English instead for the interview. I was asked about where I am from (I tried to put together a good sentence but I feel like it didn't come across the way I wanted it with expressing gratefulness about being accepted in this country and lucky to be survive and be alive and witnessing my favourite people), I was asked about excitement, about the song I was looking forward to the most... Here I got even more stuck as my mind went totally blank (strangely I didn't put forth any expectations for the setlist since I woke up and went there?), then I started thinking "better saying some realistic option but not coming out as a local" but kinda failing the latest xD The unconsciousness whispered one of my most fave songs by F+tM ever - Never Let Me Go. As I said that Mariza started literally beaming and nodding in approval, there were some jokes and stuff in-between and I didn't notice how Mariza also took a photo of me during that interview and that photo made it to the official posts of the festival and her own memory posts *cries*

Little did I also know that once I said Never Let Me Go, the interviewer (I think their name was Louisa!) asked me to... Sing. O_O I went full panic mode, voice started trembling with "I'm sorry in advance, I ain't Flo", and I started singing chorus, Mariza was so supportive, she started vibing and silently singing along with me and twirling like a lil fairy she is. I got nervous at some point seeing the phone still filming it and starting startling and messing up words until I stopped singing altogether. Louisa said it was very sweet and she liked me singing, and I asked their name, shook hands and thanked for the interview. In the end, both this singing and me saying Never Let Me Go enthusiastically ended up being in two lovely video compilations with wonderful fans! I'm so happy I met Mariza in my life, I've never had such supportive and sweet acquaintances here. <3 I hope next time I see her she'll be an official concert photographer for Flo, as she absolutely deserves!

Back to the festival itself. I did try to run at the beginning once the doors got open but, unfortunately, the pain hit me very hard and I started walking all the way to the section and the barrier and, unfortunately, despite being 33rd in a queue I ended up next to people who were 60th and up to 80th who took all the central places... I decided to be still at the barrier as holding it was very important but I was near the right screen, at the very corner of the stage, probably, the furthest I've ever been at any concert... But it was the only side that had stairs, meaning that it's still cool as Flo will be going down just from my side, YES!! The ladies next to me were actually lovely, we took care of each other's belongings while going to the toilet etc, they even took a photo together with me just before Flo appeared, and it was one more good experience to my festival baggage!

The festival lineup as a whole was... Pretty strange this time. It was probably the very first time where the lineup wasn't really any similar in the vibe or particularly complimenting, as the times before. But taken separately, they were good: Elena Leoni was nice and I've seen her as a support act for Melina before, I liked the songs where she played her mini-harp, they sounded so folky and authentic; Holly Humberstone was a complete discovery for me, she had such a bright and pleasant stage presence and such sincere energy, enjoyed her performance the most among not main acts! Suede left me quite confused: they're cool old rock guys, the real rock energy was unmatchingly high but also... Very demanding to the point of an utter frustration. So very few of the people in the crowd knew their songs though and came for them but all the people tried to vibe and clapped and cheered the whole time. The frontman asked us to sing along to one song since the very very beginning, to me and the utter majority's shame we had no idea about that song and he went absolutely devastated and kept on commenting since the next song "yeah, you're a clapping crowd, not singing one, I love that, clap clap" but at some point he looked very pissed about that. It felt like being guilt-tripped so much I started trying to predict the words to the songs and singing along lol To my embarrassment I really never heard a song about them and I have a rule to only discover new artists while live performance to first form a connection to their music. But the crowd this time was so so supportive towards everyone, like absolutely everyone, it was wholesome.

Hunger was really hitting me this time and I started sobbing a bit while it, there was such a lived through moment, and Flo was really so full of gratefulness towards her fans while singing "you make a fool of death with your beauty and for a moment I forget to worry"... I believe her, I believe her, I believe her, my true North Star. King -> Howl -> WKOM -> One of the Greats is the most insane set of 4 songs live being put back to back I've ever heard. King hit me extremely hard like never before: I started recollecting what happened to Flo and what these words mean now and how differently she performed it this time rather than the previous time... I was crying, nodding, feeling so relatable from my own experience with being no mother, no bride because... I'm king. Thank you, Flo. Howl was indescribable: the energy, the long-term memories I have for this song long long before I heard it live this time, the power, the everything!!! (like, really felt like I'd want to be taken away by her and this Witch Choir entirely voluntarily and would thank for that) Wow, since the Symphony of Lungs it's such a surprise it got into this tour's setlist. Incredible. Another first time for me, was singing along to WKOM and truly really meaning every word of that from my own experience. Flo was gracefully and demandingly running from one corner of the stage to the other and once she put herself just next to the camera of the cameraman on the very edge of the stage right in front of me and pointing at us or, as my delusional brain wants to think, of me and with fire in her eyes singing, and I also was still singing along and pointed back at her. The guitar there was fucking fire, obviously, just like for One of the Greats. Heaven is Here was much more emotional than the first time I heard her performing it, it was much more and full on theatrical witchy this time, as this song absolutely deserves, and the end was just so transcendental it really looked like Flo went through hell and fell down to earth and couldn't understand where she was up until the very first notes of One of the Greats. It was so spooky and beautiful and worrisome at the same time. Impressive. One of the Greats brought me to even more tears at the very end and completely broke me with "I will let the light in, I will let some love in, I will be happy, it will be perfect", I wasn't already understanding if I cry for Flo here, for myself, or both of us, but I was manifesting that for her and myself too. I don't really remember Buckle (but I remember still singing along but not all the words this time, only the chorus, and I remember the very relatable intro speech, like, GIRL, fucking same :/), as my tears were still streaming about One of the Greats and barely dried up at the end of it and then suddenly Never Let Me Go started, and I started screaming with still barely drying tears on my cheek (I'm sorry to my neighbor on the left, I feel like she was affected by this scream this time), as I really thought she won't perform it at the festival, even though it was played before though but I still doubted. I was singing along the whole time with really not feeling like being here, her voice carried me back to certain experiences that I've had and one of them was with certain not good thoughts just on my way back from Sifnos while being on the deck and watching the waves... At some point I came back from my head an noticed that Flo's current photographer was filming or taking photos somewhere in my direction and I started feeling fumbled and stopped singing and was just looking at Flo like a true big god she was. The moment of crowd almost endlessly repeating the chorus long after Flo stopped singing was the heartwarming peak.

But the main act were obviously Florence + the Machine and it felt like 98% of the crowd were there just for Flo! The stage setup was heavily covered with the special carpety surface, so it took a long time to prepare a stage and bring additional lights. I expected a podium but, unfortunately, it wasn't brought but instead there was a tiny mini-podium for getting closer to the fans on the front centre, it was such a funny touch, very Flo :D Also big mistake for technicians not cover the ground further than the stairs on the right side, as I absolutely knew she'd reach fans even in the darkest furthest corner of the barrier as she absolutely DID, what a queen! The intro before Everybody Scream was absolute goosebumps, gave me shivers for how it was about magic and body imagery, no one found this singer and this song through Shazam, and I actually don't remember fans actually talking about it. The cameraman decided to be just in font of me, so I constantly saw only this ugly ass each time Flo was deep in the stage, so first few minutes of Everybody Scream I saw absolutely NO Flo on stage, not even a glimpse :P (I also tried to look at the screen but the vibe wasn't it) But I saw wonderful, EPIC witchy Witch Choir, they're as expressive and giving their all as I imagined seeing them on photos! I actually enjoyed their performance absolutely all of the time, they were such an integral and necessary part of the show! Once Flo started commanding each corner of the stage with the chorus of Everybody Scream, I started yelling my lungs out. Everybody Scream is exactly the most powerful and badass start of the show I've ever imagined! Shake It Out is my good old fave friend, I don't remember a single song when I was not shutting the fuck up to, so I was singing along all of the lyrics to absolutely all of the songs in this setlist, like goddamn, how can you not? The whole crowd was mesmerized by it and singing and uooooaaaah to it, as well as going crazy to Spectrum and waving the pride flag! Which Witch was really powerful as hell, Flo was on the very edge of the stage proclaiming ever word of the chorus with such a rage, so that I even had a true delulu moment with thinking that we locked our eyes in and ragingly sang to each other "'I'm not beaten by this yet, you can't tell me to regret, been in the dark since the day we met

fire, help me to forget" but tbh I ran out of breath halfway there, I can't rap like this goddess. Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) ended up being on the verge of extremely dangerous for me. She asked us to jump as high as we can, obviously, and I felt extremely guilty like I betrayed Flo with myself trying to be cautious and just bouncing instead due to my realisation of having to walk the whole of 6 days in 2 days after this and being absolutely by myself in another city and country, so I didn't risk it. Still sorry about it but this decision saved my legs. However, when Flo had her speech about sacrifices some fans seemed to think that she would pick someone from the crowd. One fan behind me started yelling something like "I am the offering, choose me" and with unknown intentions they started pushing themselves between me and my neighbour. They hit my already injured leg, stepped on my personal back with the documents etc that was just underneath me between my feet, and started climbing up the barrier, all while Flo was already asking people to lift each other up and security guys probably fucking sleeping while all that. I started scolding that fan very loudly, saying "I'm not fucking lifting you, I have an injured leg which you hit rn!" (despite they were also bigger, taller and stronger than me), and I just was so fucking angry I started showing the bondaged leg unerneath the trouser, they were all "Oh sorry, sorry, we're just all here trying our best". Like... ??? I said sth like yeah we do but don't come anywhere near my legs anymore and then they disappeared from my view somewhere closer to the center.

Sympathy Magic was the song where the magic happened, obviously. When I saw her coming down, even though the song was pretty sad but freeing, I was just too happy and puppy eyes when I saw her coming down, I couldn't sincerely feel the real "come on I can take, give me everything you got. What else? What else? What else?" moment, even though I lived through this myself and not once but instead of being a lived through lyrical moment I was just too happy I was here and witnessing her being so so close to me and feeling her presence. She immediately went to sing to a girl in an amazing purple dress at the barrier several meters away from me in a really dark area where the screen was already ending! Then she decided to run away with "come on, come on, come on" x 445 and touching fans hands, I wanted her to touch mine so much I somehow managed to slid through her palm and she slid through my whole palm somehow in return and all of that was happening in a fraction of second, Flo looked like she kind of chuckled about that while running further like a true forest and water spirit. People next to me barely got to touch her hand and then people closer to the centre, as they said, didn't get her blessing at all, as she headed straight to her small throne-podium to sing for people out there <3 Flo tried to be for absolutely everyone at every corner of the barrier and fans were also trying to give their all to her. So mutual, so beautiful.